Cloud Accounting Company Xero Adds A New Chairman, Director, And CEO Of North America

New Zealand-based cloud accounting software company Xero is looking to step up its game in the U.S., and to do so it’s boosting its board and senior management ranks. That includes adding former Microsoft and GM CFO Chris Liddell as non-executive chairman of the board, bringing on HP exec Bill Veghte as director, and hiring former PayPal exec Peter Karpas as its CEO of North American operations.

Let’s start with Liddell, who has led the financial operations of a couple of major heavy hitters. In 2010, as Vice Chairman and CFO of GM, Liddell led the company through a $23 billion, and had previously served as SVP and CFO of Microsoft from 2005 through 2009. He replaces Sam Knowles, who has resigned as Chairman today.

Then there’s Veghte. Based in San Francisco, he runs HP’s Enterprise Group as Executive Vice President and General Manager. Prior to that, he was at Microsoft, where he served as Senior Vice President for Windows Server.

Finally, Karpas will be heading up the company’s North American operations, after joining Xero from PayPal. There he served as VP and GM of North America for Small and Medium Business. He had also previously held several senior roles at Intuit.

Xero, which trades publicly in New Zealand and Australia, has also raised a fair amount of private money to invest in expansion into the U.S. and other markets. Most recently it raised $150 million from Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures and Matrix Partners. That brings total amount raised to $230 million.